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APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — District officials heard public input Monday as Appleton schools continue to mull the possibility of once again issuing truancy citations.
The Appleton Area School District and the city of Appleton held a community listening session at the Appleton Public Library regarding the district’s Student Attendance Policy Initiative.
In 2019, AASD repealed the truancy law that fined families of truant children. Now, it may be brought back, as the district faces “chronic absenteeism.” AASD is currently the largest district in the state without truancy tickets.
The district reported that last year, 293 students last year missed over 50 days of classes.
23.7% of high schoolers missed 10% or more of the school year in 2023-24, a decrease from the previous two years but a significant increase over pre-pandemic levels. The 2023-24 school year also saw 40.2% of high school students at least part of five days unexcused in a semester. The absences left 811 graduates no longer on track to graduate.
AASD Superintendent Greg Hartjes said there are a multitude of factors contributing to this chronic absenteeism.
“There’s just a lot to occupy kids’ time. I think 20 years ago, 30 years ago, there wasn’t interactive video games, there wasn’t social media, there wasn’t on-demand TV to watch. So that’s one element. There are certainly challenges with mental health. There are certainly challenges with, ‘Are we keeping kids engaged at school?’ So I don’t think we can look at one particular area that kids are looking at not coming to school because of that area.”
Ultimately, we’re the adults. We cannot allow teenagers to continue to make poor decisions that are going to mean, perhaps, a lifetime of a lack of success. And so as adults, we need to intervene.
After five unexcused absences, the district meets with the student and their family. If that student is a no-show, the district would then consider conducting a home visit.
District officials see truancy tickets as a last resort to get students to attend school.
AASD has added support since the last truancy order was struck down, such as TRAC — the Truancy Reduction and Assessment Center — in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club. They also have two full-time social workers/attendance coordinators.
Hartjes said he does not believe the district can afford to allocate any more resources to fight truancy.
“We are putting a significant amount of resources into student attendance and we’re frustrated that we’re not seeing improvements, and so that’s where we’re looking at the community and saying, ‘We need community support here,'” said Hartjes.
The district hopes students could pay off any truancy citations with school attendance or community service. The main purpose of this plan is to get the attention of students who chronically skip school — the so-called last tool in the toolbox. Extenuating circumstances would be taken into account.
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